“So, isn’t this a curious twist.” Sirius said, catching up to Arianna as she stalked away from the scene. “after all those lectures you gave me about leaving Snape alone and not picking on him, you pick a fight with him in the middle of the hallway.”

“He started it!” Arianna protested. “I was merely defending myself!”

“ And you immobilized me so that I couldn’t help you.” Sirius reminded.

“Ari was the one that stunned you?” James asked in surprised. “I thought old Snivellus got you.” He laughed. “Did you hit the wrong person Ari?”

She glared at him. “No. I immobilized Sirius so he wouldn’t do something stupid. He can’t fight Snape any more or he’s going to get expelled. I wouldn’t want him to get expelled just because he was standing up for me. I don’t know if you all know this, but I can stand up for myself.”

“Of course you can, Ari.” Lily said, calmly. “We all know that you’re not helpless. It’s just that we all feel protective of you.”

“Yeah well that’s nice and everything but I don’t always need to be babysat.” Arianna protested, smiling at Lily, who really was a big sister to her.

“Yeah, but just think what would have happened if Sirius hadn’t been there.” Peter interjected.

“Um, probably nothing, because either way he wasn’t going to do anything. And if he hadn’t been with me, Severus probably wouldn’t have noticed me. You know he only picks on me because of Sirius anyway.” Arianna said, but she wasn’t entirely sure that was true. Sometimes it seemed like Severus noticed her more when she was alone.

“Yeah and that’s why it has to stop.” James said, looking serious. “I don’t know how you got dragged into this whole feud between us and Snape, but he had no right to bring you into it. If Sirius can’t do anything about it, then I’ll have to. He has no right to even look at you, Ari.” Sirius nodded in agreement.

“Boys, I have detention with him tonight. I’ll talk to him there. The only way to get me out of the middle of this is to do it myself. If you guys were to intervene, it would just make the whole situation worse. Severus expects me to go running to you guys for help. The only way to get him to leave me alone is to make sure that he realizes who he’s dealing with. So while I appreciate the offer, I have to do this on my own.” Arianna said determinedly. Lily smiled at her, nodding.

James and Sirius exchanged looks, Peter was already staring off in the distance, and Remus was looking down. “Okay Arianna.” Sirius said slowly. “But if I hear that your way doesn’t work, we will interfere.”

She smiled and hugged her brother quickly. “You’re too stubborn for your own good.” She told him.

“I could say the same thing about you. You know that, right?” He asked back, grinning. “Get on to class.”

She waved to the others and dashed off down the hallway. Great, another detention with Severus Snape. Just what she wanted to do in her freetime. Thpough this one shouldn’t be as bad because McGonagall would be there to supervise.

The boys and Lily watched her as she left the common room later that night as she headed off to her detention. Two detentions in one week, wow she really was turning into her brother wasn’t she?

When Arianna turned up in McGonagall’s office a couple minutes later she was surprised to see that Severus had beaten her there. He was looking surly as he stood by the door with his arms crossed over his chest. She stuck her tongue out at him and he glared at her. “Real mature Black.”

She shrugged. “I figured it was appropriate for you.”

As he was about to snap back an answer, McGonagall walked through the door. She looked between the two of them, they were both now looking in opposite directions of each other. She sighed. “Follow me.” She commanded, and walked over to the empty classroom across the hall. “I don’t know why you two have this sudden feud with each other. Even I have heard the rumors. I don’t know how you got swept into this Miss Black, defending your brother no doubt.” Arianna saw that Severus rolled his eyes. He sure was pleasant tonight.

“But I will not tolerate you two fighting in the hallways. I’m going to teach you two to work together. By the end of tonight you will hopefully be able to at least be civil towards one another. Take a seat please.” She gestured to the table set out in the front of the room.

On one end there was a thick, leather bound book. On the other end there was a roll of parchment and a quill. Arianna sat at the end with the book and Severus took the seat opposite her. “Now, to complete this detention, Miss Black you must read Mr. Snape the lines from the text so that he may copy them down. After a designated time has passed, you will swap tasks. Only when both of you have completed this and slid the papers under the door will it unlock. Try not to let it take you all night.” She ordered, looking at each of them in turn before turning to leave the room.

“Professor?” Arianna called after her quickly. “You’re not going to stay in here with us?”

“I daresay that would defeat the purpose. I feel that you will accomplish much more without me hanging overhead. Good night.” She walked out the door and they both heard the resounding lock.

Arianna and Severus just stared at each other for a minute. “No wonder she’s head of Gryffindor House, she’s barking mad.”

“Shut up.” Arianna said. “She’s brilliant. Here.” She shoved the text across the table to him, a little bit more hard than she had to.

“What’s this for?” he asked, looking at her with suspicious eyes.

“You copy down your part and then I’ll do mine.” She explained. “It will go much faster that way and then we can just get on with our own separate lives.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. For some reason she felt vulnerable right now, all alone in a locked in classroom with Severus. There was no escape now, she really was locked in here with him.

Severus regarded her for a minute, searching over the details of her face. “What?” She demanded. “Do you want to be locked in here all night with me? Just copy down your part and then hand it to me.”

Severus flipped open the cover to the book and looked for the appointed text that he was supposed to be copying down. “Um, Arianna? There may be a flaw in your brilliant plan.”

“What?” She asked.

He pointed to his paper. “This quill doesn’t work.” He said, indicating the still blank page where he was trying to write.
“What?” She repeated, dragging her chair over to his side of the table so that she could see what was going on. “what the hell is wrong with this quill?” She went to grab the quill out of his hand and ended up grabbing his hand instead. They both drew away immediately, but Arianna couldn’t deny the spark that had flew across her palm. “Let me see that.” She said, trying to pretend that she hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. She tried to write a passage of the text but got no results. “Hey! This quill doesn’t work!”

“One would almost think that I hadn’t just said that.” Severus muttered, rolling his eyes.

Arianna decided it was best to ignore that comment. “You don’t think that McGonagall charmed this to only work if I read the passage to you, do you?” she questioned.

He plucked the quill out of her hand. “read it.”

She quickly read out a passage and watched as he was now able to write the words in purple ink across the formerly blank parchment. “Oh, she’s good.” Arianna remarked admiringly.

Severus shrugged. “It was alright.” He admitted. “well hurry up and read it to me, if you’re so eager to get away from me.”

She looked at him in surprise. “Really Severus, do you wanna spend your whole night in here with me? I’m trying to do you a favor. You hate me. I figured you would want to get out of here as soon as you possibly could.”

He didn’t seem to hear her words, instead he was back to inspecting her face. “What? Why do you keep staring at me?” She demanded, wondering why she all of a sudden felt flush.

“You know, you look like him.” He commented.

“Like who?” She asked back slowly.

“Your brother. Sirius, I mean. You both have the same kind of features. Dark hair, the big eyes. The same kind of mouth. Regulus doesn’t really look like you two as much.” Severus commented absently.

“Spent a lot of time staring at my brother’s face, have you?” She retorted.

This finally returned the scowl to Snape’s face. “Not any more than I have to.” He snapped. “Read it to me.” He said, looking away from her and down at the paper in front of me.

Arianna watched him for a second. Was that Severus trying to be nice? She cleared her throat. “That’s what everyone tells us actually. That I look more like Sirius.” She added when he looked up at her in surprise. “Regulus looks just like our mum, well you know in a boy kind of way. I guess me and Sirius look more like our aunt or something.” She shrugged. “Sirius has always been the looks of the family.”

Severus snorted. “Yeah, he would like to think that, wouldn’t he?”

She grinned. “That’s Sirius for you. Regulus has always been the favorite in the family. My mum spoils him like crazy just because he got into Slytherin and neither me and Sirius did. My parents kind of gave up on Sirius when they found out that he had gotten Gryffindor. After that, they turned all their favoritism towards Regulus.” She said, then realized that she was rambling. “Sorry, I know you probably don’t give a care about any of that. Anyway, so the passage starts-”

She read off a line before she realized that Severus wasn’t copying it down. “what?” She asked, “Sorry, sometimes I talk too much. You just have to tell me to stop. I tell people things that I know they don’t want to hear. I just keep talking because I don’t know what else to say. It’s an annoying habit of mine, I’ve been told.” She smiled apologetically at him.

He just watched her for a moment, as though he was still trying to figure her out. “You know, I don’t get you. Everytime I think I’ve got you all figured out, I realize that I don’t. Sometimes you act just like him and I just want to strangle you, but then other times…you act almost normal.” He commented.

To her surprise he smiled back at her. When Severus smiled, and not that annoying smirk of his, he really was quite handsome. “I wanted to tell you that I thought about what you said earlier.” He said, turning his face down to the page and scribbling down some of the words that she had said. She raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t even thought he was listening earlier. “This thing between me and Sirius should have stayed between us. I don’t even know how you got dragged into it. And….maybe you were right.” He mumbled the last part and she barely heard it.

She grinned at him, “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that. Can you repeat that last part?”

He glared at her. “I said, you were right.” He looked like he was fighting not smile.

She broke out into a full smile. “That’s what I thought you said. It’s good that you finally came around. You and Sirius can hate each other for life for all I care. I was never trying to get you guys to be all buddy-buddy or anything. I just wanted all the fighting to stop. Sirius can’t afford to get into any more trouble, and if you ask me, all this fighting is really just-”

Out of nowhere, Severus leaned forward and kissed her, breaking off her stream of chatter. Before Arianna even fully realized what was going on, the kiss was over and Severus was staring down at the parchment again. Both of their faces were flushed. “I just wanted to shut you up.” He muttered.